40 BEIJING REVIEW AUGUST 29, 2019 http://www.bjreview.comBUSINESS MARKET WATCH
This is an edited excerpt of an article originally published by
Xinhua News Agency
Copyedited by Rebeca Toledo
Comments to [email protected]T
he apparel industry’s top leaders gathered
at the opening ceremony of the China
Footwear Pavilion at the Las Vegas MAGIC
Trade Show on August 12 to support maintain-
ing strong trading ties with the Asian country
and voice opposition to the U.S. Government’s
escalating tariffs.
“The current administration looks to apply
new duties on September 1 to a variety of prod-
ucts from China, including footwear. We are
adamantly opposed to additional duties,” CEO
of the U.S. Footwear Distributor and Retailer
Association Matt Priest said.
As one of the largest and most influential
fashion trade shows in the U.S., MAGIC is also
a display of manufacturing resources from
around the world.
“Our relationship with China is very im-
portant. They are our top supplier of footwear,
over 70 percent comes from China based on
a trusted relationship built up over decades,”
explained Priest in an exclusive interview with
Xinhua News Agency.
“We already pay $3 billion in duties every
year and $1.5 billion of that is on products from
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more tariffs,” he added.
Priest also pointed out that prices have
already started to climb on the goods that
President Donald Trump previously hit with
tariffs, according to U.S. data. “You can’t add an
additional cost to something and not expectthe costs to rise for the end-use consumer,” he
said.
“We are a consuming nation, that’s what
drives our growth. So, if you see a recession
take hold in consumer goods and see less
consumption happening, the policymakers in
Washington will see that it’s not the best policy
to tax their constituents to change the behav-
ior of one of their largest trading partners,” he
predicted.
“U.S. consumers know how to vote with
their dollars and their votes,” cautioned the
businessman.
President and CEO of the American Apparel
and Footwear Association Rick Helfenbein told
Xinhua, “We are big on trade, and we’ve had a
long and wonderful relationship with China for
decades, resulting in 41 percent of all apparel,
72 percent of all footwear and 84 percent of all
accessories imported to the U.S. coming from
China.”
His support of strong and uninterrupted
U.S.-China business and trade relations goes be-
yond the bottom line; it’s about quality control,
workers’ rights and economic stability.
“Over the years, we’ve built incredible,
reliable supply chains with China that are re-
ally important to the industry and to America.
They give us sustainability, quality control and
impact positively on workers’ rights and product
safety, to name a few. These are all things the
American buyer is very concerned about. Anydisruption of that is not good for business, not
good for business in America, not good for busi-
ness in China.”
He pointed out that because small busi-
nesses account for almost 50 percent of U.S.
jobs—10 percent of those in retail—and that
consumers account for two thirds of the U.S.
economy, it is vital for politicians to keep the
health and welfare of U.S. consumers foremost
in their minds when shaping policy.
“We’ve gone to great lengths to explain to
the government that they must not go after the
consumer. It’s very disruptive, breeds inflation
and will crash the economy,” he insisted. “As
prices go up, sales go down and jobs are lost.
That’s not somewhere we want to be. We want
to enjoy the wonderful economy it took us
eight years to build up, not wreck it.”
He contended that tariffs damage the very
industries they are meant to protect, cause
trouble for the U.S. economy and the global
economy. “Tariffs don’t happen in a vacuum
and if you take on your biggest trading partner,
every blow you deal out to him ends up hurting
you just as much,” he cautioned.
His concern is that U.S. retail is already reel-
ing and the trade war may deliver the coup de
grace.
“In 2017, the U.S. had more bankruptcies
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million square feet of retail space was lost, and
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announced store closings than in all of 2018.”
“American retail cannot sustain another jolt
right now,” he warned.
Helfenbein added, “Remember that this
adversarial attitude toward China is only com-
ing from the Trump administration. If you ask
just about anyone at this trade show, they will
tell you that we’ve built wonderful relationships
with China and have worked really well together
for many years. It’s been really good for China
and really good for the U.S. Cooler heads need
to prevail.”
“This is not some campaign slogan. We’re not
in politics, we are in business,” he concluded. QMore Tariffs on Chinese Goods Are a Blow
To U.S. Fashion Industry
XINHUA
An exhibitor displays a Made in China hat at the semi-
annual U.S. Off Price Show in Las Vegas on August 11